Angels in the Night Sky
by Denoryl
Summary: Something happened at Alexandria while Daryl was on the run. The clock is ticking, and Carol's life is at stakes. "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness." (Set right after 5x16, 'Conquer'. Slight changes).
1. Through the Fire and Rain

The loud gunshot echoed in the night, leaving everyone speechless. Blood splattered all over Abraham's face, which made him instantly step back, letting Pete's lifeless body fall on the ground. An endless and oppresive silence followed, during which no one dared to make a sound. Only Rick's heavy breathing could be heard; the rest of his body was still. His right hand, still pointed at Pete's head, was tightly clinging on the gun's cross as if his life depended on it. His eyes were lost somewhere in the pool of blood that kept spreading a few inches away from his own feet.

Jessie's muffled cry eventually broke the silence, as the horror of what had just happened finally hit her. Carol didn't blink; her eyes just shifted in Rick's direction as he was slowly turning around to face the group. The look on his face was frozen, and not a single part of his body was trembling. He hadn't hesitated once before pulling the trigger, he had barely even looked at Pete before hearing the gunshot. But his body was still.  
_I would have killed him myself_, Carol thought to herself. She wasn't sure if she was talking about Pete, or about Ed. Or both. The only regret she had concerning Ed's demise was that she hadn't been able to take the revenge she deserved. _You're a small, weak, nothing. _How many times had Ed thrown that at her face? How many times had she been the one on the other side of the knife? Just for once, she wished Ed was still there so she could show him what kind of woman she really was, what kind of woman she always had been even if she didn't know it before.

"Walkers! WALKERS!"

The scream penetrated the air right away, making mostly everyone shift into alert mode. Carol immediately got up, and glanced at Michonne who was already rushing towards the houses. She then looked back at Rick, and had just enough time to catch a glimpse of the concern in his eyes before he started running as fast as he could, his gun still in hand, calling for his son and daughter.  
A loud sound exploded a couple of seconds later, and giant flames rose in the air. Everyone jumped in surprise and instinctively took a couple of steps back.

"What the hell is happening here?!", Abraham yelled, trying to cover the noise.  
Carol made her way through the frenetic group of people as quickly as she possibly could and grabbed Abraham's wrist. "Take everyone who knows how to deal with walkers with you and see what's going on, I'm gonna go get Tara and the others."  
"You can't go by yourself, we don't know what's happening over there!"  
"I'll be fine, just go we don't have much time, the fire is spreadi-"  
Another explosion burst a couple of meters away from the first one; the screamings intensified.  
"Go, NOW!"

This time Abraham didn't object and immediately starting running, taking a few people with him and leaving the others with Deanna as she was finally getting a grip of herself and trying to take as much people as she could to safety. Carol quickly glanced at her, making sure she wouldn't see her - she didn't want to break her cover just yet. With everything happening at the moment, chances were that no one would even notice she was gone; she was invisible after all. She took her knife out of her pants and made her way towards the place where Tara and Rosita were, hoping that they were safe.

"Carol, wait!"  
She froze, hid her knife as carefully as she could and turned around with this fake angel's face of hers. Her expression went back to normal when she realized that the man standing in front of her was none other than Eugene.  
"If you're going to get Tara and Rosita, I'm coming with you. If you are not, I'm going anyway."  
"It's not safe Eugene, and I'll be more efficient by my-"  
"I'm responsible for what happened to her, I'm coming and I suggest you shouldn't waste your time trying to convince me otherwise because it's obviously not going to work."  
Carol sighed at Eugene's stubborness, but she knew there was no time to waste and that arguing with him would only make things worse. Time was running out, and every single second counted.  
"Ok fine, just stop talking and move."

* * *

A few miles away, Daryl, Aaron and Morgan were making their way back to Alexandria. The map in which Rick's name was written had left Daryl pretty confused and suspicious, but after hearing Morgan's story, he had decided to give him a chance and take him back to Alexandria with them. He had saved their lives, after all. And he had saved Rick's life as well.  
Daryl speeded up the pace a bit; he couldn't help but fear that something had happened while they were away. He knew that no matter where they were, no matter what time of the day it was of whoever they were with, they were never safe. Not in this world, not after everything that had happened. No matter what, he couldn't stop thinking about her. Carol. He had never felt this way towards anyone in his life before, and if he was honest with himself, it scared the hell out of him. He had no idea what it was, but he just knew it was there. He knew he had to keep her safe no matter what, even though she was the toughest person he had ever known and that she'd saved herself and everyone else more than once in the past. But he just couldn't help worrying, couldn't help thinking about her. Damn, that was driving him crazy every minute of every day. What if someone had found out that she stole the guns? Every single time he was away from her, he always had this weird feeling that something would go wrong. That he'd come back and find out that she had been banished again. That she had decided to run away like she did at the church. That she would be dead.

* * *

The closest they were getting to the house, the more their vision was blurred because of the smoke. Carol could barely see anything to her left, she had no idea what was going on, or if her family was safe. A shiver ran down her spine as the possibility of losing anyone else hit her. She couldn't let that happen, she couldn't take another loss. Her heart skipped a beat once they were close enough to the house to realize that the flames were already starting to reach it. _Think, Carol. Think. Fast. Act._  
"The back door!", she shouted, stopping Eugene from entering by the front door that was about to be destroyed.

They bypassed the house, coughing a couple of times because of the smoke that was getting thicker and thicker as seconds went by. The back door was clear - for now -, but locked. Carol groaned as she found out, trying to open it.  
"I need something sharp, I can open it", Eugene said innocently.  
"Eugene we don't have time for that, step back", Carol said, drawing a small gun out of her back pocket.  
"Where did you get this?!"  
"Doesn't matter, now is not the time", she snapped back right before firing her weapon through the door lock. She then kicked hard on the door, twice, before it finally broke apart.

The inside of the house was filled with smoke; Carol and Eugene covered their mouths as much as they could with their arms and clothes.  
"Tara! Rosita!", Carol coughed.  
"Here!", someone called from upstairs almost instantly.  
"Come on", Carol said to Eugene as she rushed towards the stairs. "Can you move?", she shouted.  
"I'm trying to, but Tara is barely conscious and the flames are about to reach us." Rosita's voice became a bit shaky at the end.  
"Hold o-", Carol was interrupted by the big burning beam that landed right in front of her, making her instinctively lean forward and cover her head with both of her hands.  
"Is everything alright?", Eugene asked from behind.  
"Depends on what you mean by 'alright'", Carol replied, "This thing's not gonna help. Good thing that only one half of it is on fire. For now, at least."  
They carefully stepped over the beam, Eugene almost falling all his way back along the way, and entered Tara's room without stumbling across any other obstacles.

* * *

At that same exact moment, Daryl lifted his head up and saw the thick smoke in the distance. His heart stopped beating.

* * *

Tara was leaning on Rosita's shoulder, barely awake.  
"Oh thanks god", said Rosita as she saw Carol and Eugene, "She was fine until she got up, and then her head started spinning and she lost consciousness again."  
"It's ok, she'll be fine. We'll be fine", Carol said trying to keep her composure. _Keep going, don't think about the fire, don't think about the other house. Don't think._  
Carol lifted Tara's left arm to help Rosita carry her, but Eugene stoppped her. "Let me do this, please."  
Carol just nodded and moved away, letting Eugene gently lift Tara up, releasing Rosita from half of the weight she was carrying. Carol grasped Tara's wrist, checking for her pulse. "It's way too low, she's gonna need medicine or she won't make it."  
"But she was just fine before the fire!"  
"She got up way too soon and too fast, and the smoke is only making things worse."  
"We'll find medicine, but right now we need to get out."  
"Everything that we've got is in this drawyer. You get out, I'll take them. Take this gun, you'll need this more than I do", she said while slipping her gun in Rosita's pocket.  
"Carol, no!", Rosita shouted, turning around.  
"Do you want her to live?!", Carol snapped while she was already searching for the medicines in the bedside table.  
"The bed is on fire, the entire place is going to collaspe in a matter of seconds you-"  
"Then you might as well just leave her here because she's not gonna make it!"  
The ceiling started crackling, and the flames wrapped the wooden beams just above Carol's head.  
"You go, I'll take the medicine", Eugene said and let go of Tara to run towards the bedside table. Carol turned around, coughing harder than before. "Eugene, no!"

Another crackling came from the ceiling.

Rosita didn't have any time to lose; she quickly glanced at her two friends and then decided to move. She couldn't stay there, the only person she could help at the moment was Tara.  
"For God's sake Eugene don't stay here, Rosita can't make it alone", Carol coughed, trying to fight back the tears in her eyes due to the smoke.  
_Crack._  
"If you die in here with the medicine, Tara wont make it at all", he replied back.  
_Crack._  
"I got it", Carol said, ignoring Eugene's last comment, and handed him the boxes of medicines, "Now, let's get out of here".  
_Crack.  
_The two biggest beams collasped at the same time with a loud thud.


	2. Our Phoenix Hearts are Rising in Flames

**Notes: Here you go, the second chapter is here! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, it means the world to me. **  
**Just so you know, I already know where I'm going with this story and how it is going to end so bare with me ;) Please keep reviewing!**

* * *

Daryl was running as fast as he possibly could, he didn't even know if Aaron and Morgan were still following him and he didn't care. His heart was beating incredibly fast in his chest. The branches were constantly brushing his face; he could barely even see where he was going.

* * *

The room was now filled with thick smoke and dust, and the flames were still spreading. Eugene was leaning forward, and couldn't stop coughing. He had had just enough time to run away from the bedside table before the burning beams collapsed. As he took a quick look around, he realized that Carol was still on the other side. He heard her coughing pretty badly behind the two huge pieces of wood that were on fire.  
"Are you alright?"  
"I'm... f-fine", her voice was low, "I can't move, my leg is stuck under something."  
The dust began to fade away, enough for both Carol and Eugene to see each other now. Carol's leg was stuck under the end of one of the beam; the one end that the flames hadn't reached yet. Eugene started panicking, he had no idea what to do. He turned around and around again, trying to find something that might help but he really didn't know what to do in this kind of situation.  
"Let me try to lift it, this shouldn't be too hard", he eventually said before carefully making his way towards the beam.  
"You won't be able to lift it, it's stuck under the other beam as well. And your hands would burn. Eugene...", he looked up at her, "Please just go, there's nothing you can do."  
"I said I would help you, and I will."  
"Euge-" Carol stopped talking right away as she saw something moving from behind. "Walker!"

Eugene turned around; his heart started to beat extremely fast. He got up, slowly and unsteadily, and faced the walker that was coming at him. Carol was trying as hard as she could to get her knife from behind her back. She hissed in pain when her stuck leg shifted into an even more painful position. "My knife's out of reach, just push the walker back and run."

Eugene gathered all the courage he had left and let the walker come at him. When it came close enough, he placed his hands on the chest of the walker and pushed it back as hard as he could.  
"EUGENE!"  
Carol tried to warn him, but it was too late. Another walker came right out of the smoke and grabbed him from behind, scratching his jacket apart. Eugene let out a muffled cry, and freaked out. The walker pushed Eugene towards him, ready to bite his neck.

_Bam. Bam._  
Two gunshots. One missed its target, the other one went right through the skull of the walker.  
_Bam. Bam. Bam._  
Three bullets for the other walker, all of them missed their target.  
_Bam._  
The walker kept moving towards Eugene, who was kneeling down on the floor, freaking out.  
_Bam. Bam.  
_The walker collapsed with a bullet hole on the side of his temple.

Carol released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and narrowed her eyes to make out the human shape that was standing behind Eugene.

She jumped in surprise. "Sam?!"

The young boy's hand was slightly shaking, but his fingers were tightlly gripped around the gun's cross. His eyes locked with Carol's right away and a grin appeared on his face. "Did you see that?!"  
"Sam, what the hell are you doing here?" Carol said in a high pitched voice, somewhere in between surprise and worry. "Where did you find that gun?" And how in the world did he even know how to use this? From where she was, she didn't notice that this was the same exact gun that the one she had given to Rosita a couple of minutes ago.  
"Found it outside the house, I don't know who it belongs to. Saw you coming in that house, I figured I-"  
"You are completely out of your mind, you could have died Sam! It's not safe here, I want you out right now."  
"But you need help."  
"If you really want to help me, please get out. Eugene? You okay?"

Eugene lifted his head up; he was paler than ever and his breathing was extremely fast. "I- I guess... guess so?", he replied, panting.  
"Ok great, please take Sam and get the hell out of here before the entire place falls on top of us all. Don't question anything, just go. Both of you."  
"NO!", Sam started running towards Carol but Eugene stopped him before he could reach the fire.  
_Crack._  
"Go, NOW!" Eugene grabbed Sam by the arm, looked back at Carol one last time and rushed out of the room. Sam's cries got muffled by the loud sound of another beam falling down.

* * *

The streets had been almost entirely deserted now; the screamings of the people evacuating could barely be heard anymore. Daryl had no idea what was happening, what had caused the fire the start, or where his family was. He stopped running in the middle of the street and turned around, sweat dripping out of his face. He had no idea where to go, what to do. Should he check the houses first? Maybe everyone had evacuated the place already, maybe he should just go after them before losing tracks of them once again. But what if they hadn't made it? The clock was ticking, he had to make a decision.  
He started running towards the main house, the one that had been the most damaged by the flames. He briefly saw Aaron run past him, heading for his own house, calling for Eric. The entire place was on fire, most of the houses had been destroyed. If there was anyone still in there, chances were that they were dead. Daryl's heart started beating even faster at the thought of that. If anything had happened to them, to _her_, while he was away, he would never be able to forgive himself for that. He couldn't lose her again.  
_  
You hold on._

A couple of walkers appeared from behind the corner of the house; they were all on fire. Daryl aimed his crossbow at the first one and shot it right in the head. He picked up his arrow before the flames reached it and stabbed the two other walkers with it straight away. He let out a deep groan as he picked up the arrow, placing one foot on the walker's neck to keep it down.

"Rosita, wait!"

Daryl turned around, brows raised, as he heard Eugene calling from behind him. Rosita, Tara, Eugene and a kid Daryl had never seen met up a few meters away from him. He could barely distinguish them because of the thick smoke, but he knew it was them. His tracking skills never failed him, he would be able to tell which shadow belonged to which person in a matter of seconds. He started runnning to catch up with them. The only thing he could hear at this exact moment was the sound of his heart pounding extremely fast in his chest.

"Where's Carol?!" Rosita asked Eugene, eyes narrowed as she was trying to look through the smoke.  
Daryl's heart skipped a beat. He almost crashed into Sam as he finally met up with them.

"What happened? Where's everyone?" Daryl was talking extremely fast, and his eyes were wide open. "Where's Carol?"  
He wasn't even sure he wanted to know the answer. The thought of losing her scared him more than anything else.

"You have to help her please, she's still inside". Daryl looked down at Sam. The kid's voice was shaky and his cheeks were wet with tears.

Daryl ignored Rosita's shouting, telling him not to go. Telling him that the entire house was on fire, that he wouldn't make it. Damn, if Carol didn't make it then he had nothing else to lose. He covered his face as much as he could before enterring the house by the back door. The inside was a mess; everything was on fire and a part of the ceiling had collasped on the floor.

"CAROL?!"  
His blood was pounding hard against his temple.

_You okay?  
I'm still here._

"Carol!" he kept shouting her name, kept looking everywhere, kept thinking.

_Crack._

He looked up, the last beams that remained in the ceiling were about to fall down. _Please, no. Not now, not again. Not her._

Suddenly, in the middle of this chaos, between the cracklings of the flames and the sound of everything collapsing around him, Daryl heard her. He heard her coughing, from upstairs. He knew it was her, he knew it couldn't be anyone else. He leapt up the stairs in a hurry, ignoring the smoke, ignoring everything else. He almost set himself on fire when he jumped over the beam that had fallen across the stairs, but he didn't even care.  
_  
Everything now just consumes you._

"Carol?!"  
He could barely even see her through the smoke, he couldn't see if she was moving. He held his breath and rushed towards her, desperately calling her name. He let out a muffled sob as he tried to lift up the hot beam in front of him. His fingers were burning because of the heat, but he couldn't even feel it.

And then he felt it. Not the heat. Not the fire. Not the drops of sweat that kept crashing on his body.  
He felt her hand wrap around his fingers.

_We ain't ashes._

"Daryl?" Her voice was low and hoarse, barely audible.  
Daryl let out a shaky sigh, feeling a little more relieved now. "You hold on, I'm gonna get ya outta here."  
"Daryl please just go." Her bright blue eyes were looking right into his; he could read all the pain she had been through in her gaze. She couldn't let him risk his life for her, she couldn't let him die in here.  
"Never gonna happen. We're gonna make it, ya hear me?" He gave her hand a little squeeze, but she didn't respond. "Carol?"

He started panicking again as he noticed her eyes were closed. Her chest was still rising up and down, but her breathing was slow and weak.

_Think, Daryl. Think fast._

The beam. He could lift up the beam high enough to set her leg free. By some miracle, there was still some space were the fire hadn't spread yet. His skin would probably burn but he couldn't care less. He would do anything, anything to keep her save. He would do anything for any member of his family, but with her it was different. It was something more, something he couldn't quite explain.  
He took his leather jacket off and placed it around the beam so his hands wouldn't be directly exposed to the heat. He then took a couple of deep breaths and positioned his hands under the beam, before trying to pull it up as strongly as he could. The second beam was adding too much weight for Daryl to hold much longer. His face was red because of the effort, his arms were shaking and the pain due to the lack of blood in his fingerstips was unbearable. The close heat was burning his skin, and making his eyes dry. He gathered all the strength he had left to give the beam a big pull towards him.  
He instantly dropped the beam afterwards, and recoiled violently. He ignored the pain that was throbbing all over his body and rushed towards Carol right away. He kneeled down to avoid the flames as much as he could, opening his eyes only to see where he was going before closing them instinctively again.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally reached her barely conscious body. He lifted her up in a heartbeat, her arms wrapping around his neck. As he was making his way out of this nightmare, with Carol in his arms, an image flashed before his eyes. Him carrying her unconscious body out the tombs, back at the prison. It felt like only yesterday, but so much had changed since that day. _You're not who you were and neither am I.  
_"I gotcha. You hold on, I'm gonna get ya outta here."

_Crack._

Daryl looked up at what remained of the ceiling; it was just a matter of time before the entire place collapsed. He held Carol closer to him, trying to protect her as much as he could from the blazing pieces that were falling down everywhere around them. Daryl picked up the pace, trying not to pay attention to the chaos around them. His arms were about to let go of Carol due to the effort he had made to lift up the beam, but he wouldn't give up.  
He stopped dead in front of the stairs, as he realized that the fire had spread so much that it was impossible for them to go this way. Without hesitation, he opened the first door on his left and rushed inside. It was another bedroom. This had been quite spared by the flames for now, so there was no time to lose. He carefully sat Carol down agasint the wall and grabbed everything he could find; sheets, blankets, clothes... He emptied the closets and threw everything on the floor, near the window. He then kneeled next to it and tied them all together as quickly as possible. He secured the knots and made sure it would hold. He didn't have enough stuff to make a rope that would be long enough to go straight to the bottom but this one would do. He tied one end of the rope around one of the bed legs, pulling on it several times to make sure it wouldn't break. Once it was done, he opened the window and looked back at Carol, who was still unconscious. The heat was more and more intense in the room, which meant that the fire was coming. The floor was getting more and more unsteady as time went by; there was no time to waste. He lifted Carol up and tried to find the best way to carry her with only one arm. He then grabbed the rope with his free hand and slowly stepped back and stepped over the window. He positionned his legs against the wall, pulled on the rope one last time and carefully started to go down.  
He held Carol even tighter, making sure she wouldn't fall. His muscles started to shake; carrying the weight of two people with only one arm was not the most comfortable thing to do. He bit his lower lip, trying to focus on something else than the pain. He looked down and breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that he was almost there.

Since the rope wasn't long enough to go straight to the bottom, he had to let himself fall, holding Carol very close to him. They both finally fell on the ground, safe and sound.  
Another explosion came from the house that they had just left. Daryl got up, lifted Carol up and started running as fast as he could, but a second explosion immediately threw both him and Carol to the ground. It was too late to get up now, so Daryl rolled them over, shielding Carol as much as he could, while the house collapsed a few metres away from them. The ground shook hard because of the shock, and a few projectiles hit Daryl in the process. His hand was tightly wrapped around Carol's wrist, and he didn't let go of her until it was over.

* * *

It was a close call, but they had made it in one piece. Daryl's arms, hands and face were covered in scratches and bruises due to the flames and the projectiles that had hit him. He had protected Carol as much as he could, but her leg was in bad shape. God knows for how long she'd been stuck under those damn beams. The flames had reached her a bit as well, leaving marks on the right side of her body.  
Daryl got on his knees and gently positioned Carol's face on his lap. His eyes landed on her face for a moment. She looked like a angel, even with all the physical and emotional scars etched on her skin. He placed his hand on top of hers instinctively and gave it a slight squeeze.  
He then got up and gently lifted her up, making sure her injured leg was resting in a comfortable position.

And now what? As far as he knew, they were by themselves. The entire place had been deserted; the last people that he had seen were Eugene, Tara, Rositaand that kid. They could be anywhere now. He didn't even know if the others had made it. And where the hell was Morgan?  
Suddenly, Daryl heard a voice in the distance. He didn't recognize it, so he ran towards the closest bushes. He put one kneel on the ground, and held Carol closer to him; he needed to be ready to run, and carry her, if he absolutely had to. The voices grew louder and louder as seconds went by, and Daryl was now certain that he had never heard any of them before.

"I think they're all gone", said a rough voice.  
"Or dead."  
"The more of them died here, the less we'll have to hunt down and kill with bare hands." One of the men starting laughing sadistically. Daryl narrowed his eyes, as a shiver went down his spine. He could barely see anything because of the dark night and the smoke, but he counted 4 men. They were dressed in rags and were carrying worn weapons, from what he could see.

"Oh oh oh, look who's there", said one of the men in an ironic tone.  
Daryl's gaze followed the direction the man was looking at, but the only thing he could see was a lonely walker coming at them.  
"It's one of ours."  
"Is it that much of a surprise?! We put them here ourselves, moron", another man snapped back.

The walker turned his head to the side, just enough for Daryl to notice the _W_ mark that had been carved on its forehead.


End file.
